Today was a day that we were all looking forward to. The kids had been talking about the Wall for a few weeks and the whole trip there was highly anticipated.
We booked through a tour company as we wanted to go to a section that was not too busy with tourists which is something hard to avoid in this part of the country as we found at the Forbidden City. The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is located in Huairou County about 45 miles from Beijing, the Mutianyu section connects Juyongguan Pass in the west and Gubeikou Great Wall in the east. The wall was first built in Northern Qi Dynasty (550 – 557 AD). In Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), it was rebuilt it in order to strengthen its defensive potential when they guarded the strategic pass against the Mongols. It winds 1.4 miles through lofty mountains and high ridges, many sections of which are made of granite. It measures 23 to 26 feet high.
The weather was not cooperative. As you can see from the pictures it was a foggy (and polluted) day. It did not dampen the beauty and awe of this place. We took a "ski lift" to the top of the mountain.
We walked for almost a couple hours and it was a very tough climb - steep pitches and lots of stairs.
The plan was to toboggan down the side of the mountain - the kids were very excited. They had built a metal slide which took about 20 minutes to glide down on luge-like toboggans. Unfortunately it rained a bit and they closed the toboggan portion and we had to take the ski lift back down. The kids (the whole family actually) was very very disappointed. The guides were surprised by this as they had never closed it before (unlucky us!).
The day also included trips to a couple imperial tombs and of course the obligatory factories including silk and jade. Nothing much to say about the factories. the tombs were interesting although not comparable to those found in Vietnam in terms of splendour.
I think I will let some of these pictures do the talking. It was a spectacular day and a highlight of these past few weeks. The Great Wall is not only a treasure of China but something everyone should aim to see!
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